User blog:Deadcoder/Deadcoder's Reviews: Code Lyoko: Quest For Infinity
At the request of some random person, I have decided to review Code Lyoko: Quest For Infinity, the most halfassedly named game of the franchise. This review will be updated in installments, so check back as more parts are played through. I'll be playing the Wii NTSC version, and will rate this game in the usual manner. Well, let's get this running. Part 0 We start out in the schoolyard, with the same boring talking head system we had in Get Ready To Virtualize, but without the interactive maps or interesting storytelling. ugg. Against my better taste, I'll go through each conversation and provide commentary, which will probably be verbally abusive. We get a scene with Mr. Delmas, which is just a rip-off from William Returns. Milly is a tutorial character in this game, so blech. Sissi, as a member of The Kadic News, is writing a buzzfeed-style article about which men get her wet. I'm not going to touch that. Nicholas is boring as hell. And we find out that Jeremie's clone of himself is like Jeremie, but with too much self confidence, poor taste, and hormones. It's almost like Jeremie wrote him as a self-insert fanfic. Cutting to the interesting part of the game, Odd wants to go to Lyoko for no real reason. We then get a standard annoying tutorial level. In this, we find out that Jeremie can deactivate towers remotely. This ability will never be used again. However, we make a good discovery: in this game, the hornets remember their acid shooting ability! As far as tutorial levels, this is still contrived in terms of storyline, but it's mildly enjoyable. Part 1 In this part, we find out that Herb does Sissi's homework for her. This combines with nepotism to form the reason she hasn't flunked out. The Paco King of Disco arc is still alive and well in this game. Tamiya is pissed at Sissi for being self absorbed. Hilariously, Mrs. Hertz is having such a strong mental breakdown, Odd openly mentions Kiwi to her, and nothing comes of it. In the factory, we get a much more boring version of the episode Skidbladnir (episode). In Carthage, we find out that there's a special type of Creeper that only Ulrich can destroy, because the game programmers wanted him to be relevant for some reason. This level is more tutorial, but it's still pretty fun. The scene where they name the ship is weaker than in the show. We then get a ripoff of Maiden Voyage. However, even with the tutorial nature of the level, the digital sea level is really enjoyable. We then discover the Desert Replika. We get some desert sector stuff, and a star trek joke from the cast. Pro-tip: You don't need to defeat the blocks. Just eliminate William. The monsters will all explode. Part 2 So in the boring part, Delmas is suspicious of William. The clone is stupid. He also complains about getting hot under his clothes. This will go nowhere. And it won't lead to William streaking. MINUS ONE POINT FOR BEING A COCKTEASE! We find out what the Replikas are. We also find out that Aelita and Jeremie wrote a program to destroy replikas. So we have two branches: Work to destroy the Desert Replika, or the Ice replika. I chose the ice one, because I like digital sea levels. Pro tip: in the Ice Replika, you can find goodies if you jump off the ledge to the left of the kankrelats. There's a platform that's only visible from certain angles that has a picture. In this level, you can unlock one of Odd's abilities. Back on earth, talk to Herb, you can get a picture. We continue the Paco story arc. The Kadic news has gotten a reset button, as has Sissi. We continue with the Desert Sector. In the desert replika, you can find an upgrade hidden behind the block of rocks which is in front of the energy well. We get a tedious section of nothing but those stupid metal creepers. My god the AI for these things is bad. You can literally trick them into walking off cliffs. One of them will just sit and spin in a circle in some cases. This allows you to unlock Ulrich's Triplicate. From there, we go to Carthage. There, we see creepers that can shoot laser beams. You get an upgrade on the route. We then encounter exploding kankrelats, a concept we previously saw in GRTV. Part 3 Nothing of interest happens in the schoolyard. One of them is literally copypasted. So we decide to Chimera the Desert Replika. Interestingly, we see Mantas in the Digital Sea. This concept wouldn't be replicated in show until Code Lyoko Evolution. It's also the first time we encounter the insekts, which are a game exclusive monster. After the Insekts, you encounter a set of virtual memory leaks. Hidden to the right of these is a point where you can use Odd's catjump, and get to the top to get another hidden picture. We get another William encounter, and destroy the Replika with the power of recycled footage. We encounter a mysterious moving blob of light, and it disappears. Part 4 In the schoolyard, we find out that Jim used to be a reporter, and investigated columbian cartels. We also find out that Rosa has a pet rabbit named "Peppette" who relieved himself in the tomato sauce the previous week, which was the week there was leftover spaghetti bolognaise. We then notice an activated tower, which is on a Replika for some reason. It's causing animals to become more aggressive, which is told to us in the horror of OFFSCREEN DRAMA! "read that in the most melodramatic voice you can." Also, monsters are attacking a tower, so the team splits up. In the Desert, the level is pretty simple, but there's some tricks you can use. For example, when you encounter the blob of several dozen kankrelats on the moving platform, just keep the shield up. They will destroy themself when you reach the other side. After the monsters evacuate the tower, you see a really silly cutscene. We then are in the Digital sea, and hear Yumi's voice from the Skid, even though she's not on board. In the forest, we get some really tedious platforming, and Aelita getting the petrification ability. Part 5 In this part, in the boring crap, Ulrich hooks Sissi up with William's clone. Wow. I'm not sure which one of them, if either, will pass a turing test. In the enjoyable part, we have two replikas we can destroy. I choose the ice replika, because I like the lighting. Here, two monsters are introduced: the armored megatanks which can only be lured off edges, and the volcanoids. After the ice replika, we have a chase scene. We then discover another replika. The earth scene is completely irrelevant. We then shoot for the mountain replika. When we get there, XANA launches an attack WITH OFFSCREEN DRAMA! GASP! OLD LADY FAINTING! A point of interest: After you get past the ring of blocks and climb the wall, you can find an extra goody to the right. We deal with the tower in the usual manner: recycled footage. And it turns out the Skid is being attacked, so we have to make a trip back. We then get another battle, with a new form of megatank that shoots horizontal rings. It turns out that the skid is damaged, so they bail. Part 6 In the boring shit, Herb asks Yumi out, and it fails. Nicholas has a thing for Aelita. I don't think anyone ships any of these. In the interesting shit, we see a volcano world, and a tower activates. XANA starts a plague, and Ulrich is out of commission. We also find out that this replika has extra protection, and a power outage creates a diversion mission. Yumi says they can manage without Ulrich, which is true because he is useless in this game. The extra tower is in the Forest Sector. In the later part, we get introduced to a new Yumi power, and a new variety of Tarantula. Yumi's new power is balance. How this gets the other characters across the narrow paths isn't explained, and neither is how everyone else gets up the walls that Odd climbs. We then go to the digital sea. YAY! We find out Jeremie is having issues with this particular Replika. Not yay! We then encounter a sea of lava, which doesn't damage the skid for some reason. And the skid is attacked by lightning, which is well, bad. This jams the communications, and they crash on a platform in the sector, nearly falling off a ledge. They reestablish communications, and Ulrich is covering for Jeremie. We then discover Odd's time control, and Jeremie returns. As per usual, the tower is deactivated. To compensate for Ulrich's absence, which I haven't noticed. He's useless in this game. At least he lets you destroy that rock so you can unlock yet another bonus. The rest of this level is tedious wrist pain. Part 7 Talk to Jim. You can get something from him. It's not pornographic. Same goes for the Jeremie Clone. We find out that Jeremie and Aelita fucked up, and we need to destroy the physical computers of the Replikas. So we need to either destroy the Mountain Replika or go to Carthage. I go to Carthage, because patience is a mental disorder. When we get there, we find out that XANA is trying to destroy the core. Because his internal clock got screwed up by the 2038 bug, and he thinks it's season 3. In this mission, we unlock Aelita's creativity. Unlike in the show, you can only use it in a handful of situations, instead of everywhere. But I won't deduct points for this, because I guess this is an abstraction for why Aelita only uses it about 5% of the time of when she could. Once you cross the first chasm, there's an upgrade hidden to the right, between two of the moving blocks. Later, you'll see the same after a dropping platform. We then go to the core of Lyoko via the power of recycled footage, but we don't get to climb to the top, just battle some monsters at the bottom. blech. I've actually encountered bugs here. The core of lyoko part actually uses the same level map as the rest of most of Carthage. As a result, it's possible to have a monster fall into the hole, but have it land on a stable monster, have it defeated for all practical purposes, but not proceed in the game. Back at Kadic, Milly is suspicious of William. So now we deal with the other mission. Yay! A digital sea level! So then we split. The girls guard the skid, the guys destroy the supercomputer. Insert sexist joke here. There's a hidden upgrade if you take the yumi narrow beam path after you get past the exploding hornets. There's an Aelita one shortly after that, using creativity. We find out that the Replika is guarded by a giant robotic hopping beetle, because cybernetic spiders would be ridiculous. When you defeat it, the subtitles desynchronize. Part 8 In the boring crap, Jeremie's clone is flirting with Milly. Isn't that like stealing a vibrator from Aelita? Aaaannnndddd a tower activates. Aaaannnnddd it's an earthquake. Underneath one of the energy recharge points, you can find an extra picture. I also found a bug where you can teleport back to under a kankrelat and walk through a solid platform. We deactivate the tower, but we have some side effects. After the RTTP, Nicholas gives something to Aelita. So the warriors deduce that XANA is trying to trap them in the Volcano Replika, so they plot around it with stealth technology. They figure "eh, might as well take out the Ice replika while we're at it". I choose the former, because I want to unlock whatever I can for that boss. The mountain sector is basically a set of mini-levels. We then get a digital sea level entirely of obstacles, in a way that makes no sense. When we get to the replika, we regain Yumi's telepathy. Once you get up the first wall, walk through the energy refill point, and you'll find a hidden chamber with even more unlockable crap! Another tip: somewhere in this level, there's a volcano you can jump into to unlock a music video. They then find a tower full of towers. Aelita senses William's presence there as well. It turns out to be XANA's core. Which makes no sense in reality or in-universe. At Kadic, Milly reveals she wants to win a Pulitzer. Mrs. Hertz gives you a picture out of her being crazy. We have two branches. I choose the one that requires less wrist movement to choose. Once you're past the moving platforms and have to petrify a creeper, go to the right of the platform, and jump to the next platform. There's a few things to unlock. Later on in the level, after you defeat the shielded volcanoids, DO NOT try to jump to the next platform. There's a bug where you die. Use the transporter instead. So the Ice Replika monster is a tentacle monster. With it eliminated, the Forest one is next in the cue. We have a digital sea level, YAY! It also introduces the Kalamar which can shoot elliptical lasers. NOT YAY! Ulrich "god he sucks in this game" defends the skid while the useful people go to defeat the monster of the week. He gains an ability though: the ability to get rid of those stupid blue force fields. Once you get past the blue forcefield, and get to a larger platform, drop off the right, to unlock something. The rest of the level is the usual kill all the monsters stuff. In the boss area, the boss is apparently a giant uterus for hornets. Once you defeat it, a larger version of the Insekt spawns. Part 9 Sissi is trying to make Ulrich jealous by dating William, and it's failing. And Mrs. Hertz does not have a thing for Jim, who fantasizes that they do. And now a tower has activated. The attack is another earthquake, targeted at the school. Though frankly, if XANA wanted to destory that thing, he should have waited for the shitty management to do that for him. To the ice sector! Aelita finally gets the freaking wings, and there's something you can unlock underneath the launch point. After that, you'll encounter a new type of Insekt that you need to use the telekinesis on to destroy, as well as a variety of Krab with the same problem. Later, you will see a life point refill point after climbing a wall with monsters. There's two unlockables there. The funny thing is that there's a bug in this level. The tower has no collision data. You can walk right through it, and be disappointed when it's the exact same texture as the exterior. Part 10 So Sissi is single again. Ulrich then fakes her out. He tries to get her to date Mathias Burrel. Some strange stuff is going on in the Mountain sector. Naturally, it must be investigated. In the level, when you get past the first use of creativity, go to the gap between the mountains to the right of the Krab, and you can unlock a couple of other things. So the disturbance is Franz Hopper, giving data to Jeremie. They then target the monsters trying to kill him. They save him, but Aelita is sad that he's gone. We get a digital sea level, and we're back in the volcano replika. This level is recycled. How fitting of Code Lyoko. One you get past the Volcanoid, and you get to a save point, look to the left, in the niche, and you get another upgrade. Hoorayz. Two volcanoes to the left of the blue force field, there's another upgrade. You then get another William encounter. If you kill William, everything else blows up. Odd stays with the Skid, and the rest of them go to destroy the Desert Replika's boss. It's basically some kind of random bug thing. In the final stage, you basically take out its knees, and stab it in the ballsack. I wish this was a joke, but that's the actual way you do it. This isn't a joke. Part 11 Nothing interesting at Kadic, even by the standards of THIS game. At the factory, Jeremie figured out how to free William. Yay! A digital sea level! Ulrich and Yumi have to deal with William, and Odd and Aelita are escaping the love triangle by destroying a giant worm surrounded by lava. You may make your own gonorrhea joke here. The worm is pretty simple to deal with, so I'm not going into detail on it. With Ulrich and Yumi, you can find an upgrade to the left of the starting platform. Fun fact, this is the same level as the previous Volcano Sector one, but it has a different start point, end point, and force field configuration. You can unlock another power up after you get past the section where the wall is coming in and out, by jumping off the right ledge. The worm is defeated, William is rescued, and CREDITS! Part 12 Now to go through all the levels and unlock all the stuff we couldn't get before! The first one is the Forest sector. When you get past the set of Insekts and Tarantulas, there's a block to the right that can be moved with telepathy for a picture. Next, there's a side platform to the right of the set of 3 Tarantulas that Aelita's creativity can reach for a couple of things. Next is Carthage A. After you defeat the first set of wall-mounted lasers, and climb to the next platform, you can use Odd's catjump to unlock a couple of things. After you get past the section where you need to hit two buttons to go further, keep going forward, and you can use Odd's time control to get two more things. I recommend exploiting the flawed design here, because the timing for these SUCKS. Part 13 Now to handle Carthage B. This requires two runs, because the level splits. The first one shall use the lower platform. Right after the wall panel that goes in and out, you can hang a left, use Yumi's telepathy, and catjump to get a picture. When you're done with the exploding kankrelats, go left, and there's a blue force field that you can destroy for more crap. With the next run of that level, there's more stuff! TO THE OTHER PATH! When you get past the wall panels coming in and out, there's a blue forcefield protecting a picture from our looting. At the part that has an energy spout, you can use telepathy to move a rock and get another item! There's nothing else here. Next is section A of the Desert Sector. There's nothing left to find on the Odd path, so we'll take the Ulrich path. Y'all already know about the rock you can destroy with triplicate; but there's also a blue forcefield you can destroy to unlock stuff, that's just up from there! When you get to the arena section, there's a lot of stuff. First, right before the entrance, to the right, there's a path you can use timecontrol to pass. To the left, creativity, but the same. On the opposite side of the arena section, there's a part you can use catjump to get to. At the second-to-top level, you can use have Aelita freeze one of the Kankrelats to get a picture. After the virtual memory leaks, there's a blue force field you can destroy for more stuff. Part 14 Up next is Part B of the desert sector, because it TOTALLY wasn't boring or overused in the show. First up is the lower path, the one where we unlocked Ulrich's triplicate. Once we get that annoying section of the level, there's a large platform. If you go forward with Aelita's flight, you get something. Same goes for left with Time Control. On the upper route, there's several things right after the destroyed bridge. First up, there's a couple of things behind the blue forcefield and rock. Next, you can use Aelita's petrification and creativity at those 3 hornets to get to that platform on the right. Up next is the ice replika, because I like that one, deal with it. Y'all already know about the one on the side, and the catjump one. But once you get past the first catjump, there's a drop in the ground and to the left, you can use Aelita's creativity for something . After that, a blue forcefield for some stuff. After that intermediate tower, WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT APPROACH, you can use telekinesis for something. After Odd's catjump after the first armored megatank, you can use Yumi's balance to get something. There's a blue forcefield in the carousel. Part 15 Next, Forest Replika A, left path. After the beam creepers, you can use Yumi's balance for something, followed by Aelita's creativity. In that section right before you unlock petrification, Odd's timecontrol can be used for something. Right before the tower, Aelita's flight, use it. On the other path, same level, there's more crap! Right after that god-awful section with the time control, you can use Aelita's flight for something on the left. Y'all already know about the ones requiring petrification in this section, because they're obvious and easy. MOVING ON! The other section of the Forest Replika has stuff too. You can use Aelita's creativity on one part of it, after that section with the Reddit full of creepers. You can also use Yumi's telepathy on the platform with the krabs, and use Odd's catjump on the platform with the blue forcefield. Finally, you can use petrification to freeze a creeper and get to that platform above the one you start on. Part 16 Next is the Desert Replika, the lower route first. Once you get past that part with the switch, there's a point where you can use Yumi's balance for something. After the first teleporter, to the left, you can use Aelita's creativity. Right after the following energy spout, triplicate. To the left of that, catjump. On the upper level, there's a ton of stuff after that first insekt. First, there's one hidden behind a rock on the platform with the Insekts, which I always forget about because it's so hidden. Y'all already know about the catjump one. But there's also a balance one to the left. Later, at the section with the moving platform and all of the reset teleporters, there's something too: first platform, yumi's telepathy. Part 17 Up next is part A of the Mountian replika, because the Volcano replika is a pain in the ass. You can use Aelita's flight from the intermediate platform of that wall you need Odd to climb. You can use Yumi's telepathy near the energy spout after you defeat the blok and two tarantulas. Odd's time control can be used a little after that. In part B of the mountain replika, there's even more stuff! I wonder if this game causes OCD and hoarding? Odd's time control, lower part of the rotating platforms. You need to use the jump back trick on this one. On the following platform in the vertical spinning area, Aelita's flight is available. That's it for this one. All that's left is the volcano replika. First up is Part A. In that first part where you freeze the creeper, you can use Yumi's telepathy. After the second use of balance, there's two things: Ulrich's triplicate on that rock, and Aelita's flight to the right. Take either path, at the switches, because neither has any more stuff. We already finished Part C, so all that's left is Part B. First up, at the second use of Yumi's telpathy, to to the blue forcefield, and destroy it. From there, go to the raised edge of the platform, and use Aelita's petrification to get to the top, and get more stuff. At the fork in the path, take the left path, and use Aelita's flight. After, that, take the left path for everything, and then you're done! =Review Summary= Graphics Graphically, this game is a mixed bag. On one hand, I like what they do with the targeting system and the avatars. On the other hand, the game's use of the hardware is poor. Unlike the Wii itself, this version of the game only supports one aspect ratio. Additionally, the graphics of the stuff on earth is boring as hell. However, I do like that they made Ulrich and William's avatars sexier. It makes up for the low quality of Carthage's inner shell. The biggest issue is in the Volcano Sector. Not only is the lighting bad, but the sector is so graphically complicated that it causes lagging, and it still has rendering issues. Do a shot every time the lava rendering fails. Also, the subtitles are routinely off. It's as if they were based on a draft script rather than a final one. Storytelling I feel like this game blended really well with the story that season 3 had set up for, but there were a few issues. For starters, all of the drama happens offscreen which is just freaking lazy, especially when a previous game, Code Lyoko: Get Ready to Virtualize, had you watch the drama unfold rather than simply be told about it. Additionally, part of the plot hinges on XANA being a moron. The Volcano replika was revealed because he activated a tower there. Further, the cast all acts like there's only 5 replikas, which is kind of stupid. Replay value This game has the best replay value in the franchise. It's better than Code Lyoko: Get Ready to Virtualize and Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A., because it allows you to revisit all of the levels at your leizure. It's better than Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A. and the Social Game, because you are encouraged to replay rather than punished by the seizures and non-replayablity of Fall of XANA or the annoying advertising of the Social Game. It's even integrated into the characters. Ulrich is useless in this game, but everyone else is built into a sliding scale of ability. Odd is very simple to use, generally, Aelita is better for moderate players, and Yumi for experienced players. Everyone can use everyone, but there's something for everyone, and this enhances the game. =Overall Review= Unlike Fall of XANA and the Social game, Quest for Infinity clearly was not quickly licensed crap thrown together. This was clearly something that someone cared about and tried to do a good job. That being said, I feel like it deviated too much from Season 4. It's up for debate which one is a better story. In terms of storytelling, it's not great. GRTV did a better job in that interesting stuff actually happened on Earth. On the other hand, the Lyoko parts of Quest for Infinity are somewhat more fun than the ones in Get Ready to Virtualize, though this comes at the expense of the Earth parts. It's easy, but not boring. Overall, I'd give it 8/10, because it has a lot of points that need improvement, but it's still an overall enjoyable game, and I'm glad to have a copy. If you enjoyed this review, please consider making a charitable donation for medical research: foregen.org. Category:Blog posts